Courtesy: Solomon Times


In the Land of the Giants

Monday, October 06, 2008

BY JAMES RUHFUS IN BRASILIA, BRAZIL

The amount of Futsal courts that Solomon Islands and Brazil have could be described by the same word: 'countless'.
It is a apt for Brazil because there would simply be too many to count, and just as apt for Solomon Islands because there is simply nothing to count (the Mulit-Purpose Hall where Solomon Kurukuru train and play is many metres smaller than a standard Futsal court). This fact should give an appreciation of the challenge that Kurukuru faced when they entered the Nilson Nelson Hall in Brasilia today.

Local newspapers contained previews of the match with headlines such as 'David and Goliath' and 'In Search of a Miracle'. One unkindly featured a computer-generate image with fourty balls in the back of a Futsal goal - their prediction of the final score. The eventual tally, 0-21, was the second-largest defeat in the tournament's history, but for Kurukuru it was probably the highlight of their short Futsal careers. Not many people get to play against their sporting heroes, but today the young Solomon Islanders did and experience should prove to be invaluable.

'We lost today,' said Kurukuru coach VIctor Wai'ia, 'but the loss doesn't mean anything. As long as we can see that the boys have committed to play and use the skills that they have, then we are happy.'

For their part, Brazil were genuinely awesome; their stars Falcao, Shumacher and Lenisio ran rampant and goals rained into Junior Kogua's net. Kurukuru's first choice 'keeper, Junior Lioka, missed the game with a knee injury and might be considered lucky to avoid the barrage of shots that Kogua endured. Suggest that though, and his answer is an emphatic, 'of course I would have loved to play!'

Kogua was swamped after the game by Brazilian media asking what it was like to have so many goals scores against him. To in his credit, he took it in his stride, laughing later that it was a bit tedious, but, 'it was still good. Today helped be in becoming a better player. I know what the best is now and what I need to do to improve.'

While the defeat was worse on the scoreboard than the opening game against Cuba, Kurukuru were a markedly improved outfit. The defensive structure missing against Cuba appeared and it was simply a case of Brazil being too strong, fast and technically proficient in their attack.

The previous day the team watched Guatemala narrowly defeat Egypt 1-0 in a high-quality game and then reviewed their match against Cuba on DVD. Technical Advisor Scott Gilligan highlighted areas of improvement and told the boys to note Guatemala's structure against Egypt.

"I think in the Cuba game they were a little bit nervous because obviously this is big occasion, but they got the nerves out after that. The second half against Cuba they started to play the way that they can play, and today they started from the word go. Defence I thought was good and we kept possession quite well, although it's very hard to keep possession against Brazil," said Gilligan.

In attack, once again captain Elliot Ragomo was strong, but today he was joined by Jack Wetney, who impressed the crowd with his ability to beat Brazillian players with some fancy footwork. He got close - on one occasion agonisingly so - to scoring three goals in a performance that turned some heads.

"It was a great game to play; it was the best experience I've had and such an honour," said Wetney, who shares the same shirt number as Brazil's, and the world's, best player Falcao. "Since I was small I looked at him play - he was so great - and that's why I chose no.12. It was amazing for me to play on the same court him."

At full-time after the teams had shook each-other's hands, Falcao approached the young Kurukuru and they embraced one another, an acknowledgment of sorts from their hero that this was just the beginning for them.

It might also be prudent for all fans of Kurukuru to take note of the team that suffered the worst-ever defeat in the World Cup - again it was against Brazil, in the year 2000, the score 29-2. Who were they? Guatemala; the same team that now displays such a strong defensive aptitude.

A rest day is scheduled for Kurukuru tomorrow before what will be another big challenge when they meet Japan on Saturday. They will go into the match with the same 'no regrets' positivity that this tournament demands of them. Junior Lioka should be fit to play and there are no injury concerns. The team has greatly appreciated all messages received at the kurukuru@mail.org email address and anyone with time to write is encouraged to do so.




Courtesy: Solomon Star News


Have faith in the Kurukuru

Monday, 06 October 2008

HEY, there, soccer fans.

Don’t turn the pages of this newspaper past the Kurukuru reports.
Don’t turn off the TV and miss the early morning broadcasts of games.
Don’t give up on our young team in Brazil..

As predicted here on this page, the Kurukuru are suffering heavy losses in the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
Anything else would have been a nice surprise, a big one.

We have the youngest, smallest and least experienced team in the tournament playing against the giants of futsal, or indoor soccer.

That the Kurukuru got there in the first place by winning the Oceania championship was a major achievement.
The ease with which they beat bigger and older players in the Oceania tournament in Fiji testifies to their potential.
But to expect them to go to Brazil and immediately win World Cup games was unrealistic.

Scoring the opening goal against Cuba was an achievement, despite the 2-10 final scoreline.
Pulling back to 2-3 against Japan after being down 0-3 was an achievement, despite the 2-7 final scoreline.
Stopping all-conquering Brazil beating their previous record win (29-2 over Guatemala) was an achievement despite the 0-21 loss.

These are the experiences from which this young team will grow.
Consider this. We don’t even have a proper size futsal court in this country. Futsal, like so many of our sports, suffers from the severe lack of facilities.

All the more reason to make sure we win the right to host the 2015 Pacific Games, with all the facilities this will bring to Honiara.

Consider this too. Australia represented Oceania in the previous five futsal World Cups. In all that time the Aussies, despite all the futsal they play and all the players they have, could win only two of 15 games. Both those were against lightweight teams.

Despite all their experience and playing strength Australia suffered numerous heavy defeats in their most recent Futsal World Cups. 0-10 against Brazil, 2-11 against Ukraine, 1-10 against Russia, 2-8 against Egypt and 0-7 against Spain are examples.
That puts the Kurukuru performances in their first major international tournament into context.

The important thing now is to have faith in this promising young group. Give them the opportunity to develop through this experience.

Beating Brazil might be a distant dream. But given the opportunity the Kurukuru can certainly develop into more successful representatives of Oceania than the Aussies were.

Stay tuned to the TV at 2.30am tomorrow. Pick up your Star tomorrow morning.
Look for the potential in our Kurukuru, not a win, as they face another massive challenge. Russia.







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com